System for identifying a lost/stray animal from a safe distance and notifying the owner if desired

ABSTRACT

A method of identifying and assisting an animal comprises: transmitting a unique identification and serial number from an identification tag coupled to the animal to a first portable electronic device; inputting owner information from the first portable electronic device; receiving the unique identification and serial number from an identification tag by a second electronic device; and receiving the owner information on the second portable electronic device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is related to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/371,350 filed Aug. 5, 2016, entitled “System For Identifying Owner ofPet From A Safe Distance” in the name of the same inventors, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/447,467 filed Jan. 18, 2017, entitled“System For Identifying A Lost/Stray Animal From A Safe Distance andNotifying The Owner” in the name of the same inventors, both of whichare incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The present patentapplication claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C § 119(e).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to the technical field ofowned animals, and more specifically, to the technical field ofutilizing electronic transmission devices for identifying a lost/strayanimal from a safe distance and notifying the owner with details of whenand where the animal was seen while remaining anonymous if desired.

BACKGROUND

Owners of pets are always faced with the possibility of losing theiranimals. In an attempt to assure safe return of a lost pet, owners haveplaced their names, phone numbers and/or addresses on the pet tags wornby the pet, in hopes that the finder of the lost pet will contact theowner if the pet is found. If a pet is lost, this provides somedirection and incentive to the finder of a pet to contact the rightfulowner and safely return the animal.

Another method used by pet owners is through the use of computermicrochips. The microchips may be programmed to contain identificationinformation. One example of these microchip devices may be passiveradio-frequency identification, hereafter RFID capsules. These RFIDcapsules have been provided to shelters, veterinarians, and pethospitals in the form of miniature capsules that are injected into ananimal via syringe and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,550 assign toTrovan Limited. This works by injecting a fully assembled transponderthat is encapsulated in the microchip into the animal's body. Millionsof pets currently have the RFID transponder microchips injected intothem using this method representing a socially acceptable method to helpidentify pets and their owners.

For identification to be retrieved from the microchip a person using aspecific RFID reader has to be in very close proximity of the animal,typically holding the animal, to read a unique identifiable code that iswirelessly transmitted from the chip to the reader using the scanner asthe power source to trigger and read the powerless passive RFID chipsignal. The disadvantage of this process is it requires specific costlyRFID microchip readers for different microchips since not all microchipreaders read all microchips, and the scanner has to be within inches ofthe pet to be within range of the passive RFID in order to trigger asignal return.

In the event of a scared or injured lost animal, the animal may notallow anyone to approach or may attack the person concerned for thepet's well-being. Contacting local animal control and having themrespond can take a significant amount of time, sometimes hours, whichcould be critical to the animal's wellbeing.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method thatovercomes the above. The system and method would allow individuals toidentify a lost/stray animal from a safe distance and notifying theowner with details of when and where the animal was seen while remaininganonymous if desired.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one embodiment, a method of identifying and assistingan animal is disclosed. The method comprises: transmitting a uniqueidentification and serial number from an identification tag coupled tothe animal to a first portable electronic device; inputting ownerinformation from the first portable electronic device; receiving theunique identification and serial number from an identification tag by asecond electronic device; and receiving the owner information on thesecond portable electronic device.

In accordance with one embodiment, a method of identifying and assistingan animal is disclosed. The method comprising: transmitting a Bluetoothbeacon transmission signal containing a unique identification and serialnumber from an identification tag coupled to the animal to a firstportable electronic device; inputting owner information from the firstportable electronic device; transmitting the owner information inputtedfrom the first portable electronic device to a server; storing the ownerinformation on the server; receiving the unique identification andserial number from an identification tag by a second portable electronicdevice; and receiving the owner information on the second portableelectronic device from the server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present application is further detailed with respect to thefollowing drawings. These figures are not intended to limit the scope ofthe present application but rather illustrate certain attributesthereof. The same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawingsto refer to the same or like parts.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the Pet-animal Identification Device(PID) assembly containing a Bluetooth beacon circuit board with anattached power supply within a water resistant plastic or rubbercontainment device in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a handheld device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the input of the handheld device and petidentification device in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a found pet with a third party using ahand held device to identify the pet in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the third party receiving contactinformation output on their hand held device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the owner utilizing a mobile device withthe software applications to receive the beacon data informationtransmission from the PID and inputting non-confidential animalinformation and confidential owner's information that is sent to andsaved upon the system server in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a lost/stray animal being identified bya third party using a mobile device with the software applications toreceive the Bluetooth beacon data information transmission from the PIDin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the third party using a mobile devicewith the software applications to send and receive the animal identityinformation with the system server and the data information output ontheir mobile device in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the third party alerting the animal'sowner and providing optional information using his or her mobile devicewith the software applications and the designed system in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the owner using his or her mobiledevice with the software applications to alert the system server thatthe animal is missing, which may alert any third parties using theirmobile devices with the software applications that are in closeproximity to the lost/stray the animal in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION

The description set forth below in connection with the appended drawingsis intended as a description of presently preferred embodiments of thedisclosure and is not intended to represent the only forms in which thepresent disclosure can be constructed and/or utilized. The descriptionsets forth the functions and the sequence of steps for constructing andoperating the disclosure in connection with the illustrated embodiments.It is to be understood, however, that the same or equivalent functionsand sequences can be accomplished by different embodiments that are alsointended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of thisdisclosure.

Embodiments of the exemplary system and method disclose a petidentification tag utilizing a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beaconfunction, a handheld device configured to wirelessly receive data fromthe pet identification tag, and software on the handheld deviceconfigured to facilitate identification of a lost/stray animal. Thesystem and method may alert and notify the animal's owner that theanimal has been located and provide global positioning systemcoordinates, allow communication between the animal's owners and a thirdparty who located the lost/stray animal, allow for the owner to identifythe animal as lost, allow for alerting participating third parties thata lost animal is in close proximity to their persons', while utilizingBluetooth communications, Global Positioning System communications,Global System for Mobile communications, Wi-Fi communications, computernetwork communications, and/or additional IEEE standards.

Referring to FIG. 1, a Pet-animal Identification Device (PID) assembly30 may be seen. The PID assembly 30 may be comprised of a housing 31.While the housing 31 shown in FIG. 1 is cylindrical in shape, this isshown as an example and should not be seen in a limiting manner. Thehousing 31 may be formed in other geometrical configurations.

In the present embodiment, the housing 31 may be formed of a frontsection 30A and back section 30B. The front section 30A may beconfigured to hold and store a communication tag and power supply 2. Theback section 30B may be used to cover an open end of the front section30A thereby forming a closed housing 31. In accordance with oneembodiment, the housing 31 may be a watertight and/or water resistanceassembly. The housing 31 may be formed of a lightweight but sturdymaterial such as plastic or similar material.

The communication tag and power supply 2 maybe programmed with anidentification and serial number. The identification and serial numbermay be unique for each communication tag and power supply 2 and cannotbe reprogrammable by the pet owner. The communication tag and powersupply 2 may have a programmable area which may allow a pet owner toenter and store information about the pet such as the pet's name,microchip number, photo, veterinarian, and/or additional informationprovided by the pet owner. In accordance with one embodiment, thecommunication tag and power supply 2 may be a Bluetooth low energybeacon device. Since the communication tag and power supply 2 may be aBluetooth low energy beacon device, any Bluetooth enabled mobile deviceequipped having software to securely connect to the PID assembly 30 maybe able to wirelessly transmit and/or receive data information from thePID assembly 30.

Referring to FIG. 2, the system and method of the present invention mayutilize a mobile device 15. The mobile device 15 may be mobile phones,tablets, and other similar devices. In accordance with one embodiment,the mobile device 15 may be a Bluetooth enabled mobile device.

The mobile device 15 may be described in more detail in terms of themachine elements that provide functionality to the systems and methodsdisclosed herein. The components of the mobile device 15 may include,but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 70, asystem memory 72, and a system bus 74 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 72 to the processor 70. Themobile device 15 may typically include a variety of computer systemreadable media. Such media could be chosen from any available media thatis accessible by the mobile device 15, including non-transitory,volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. Thesystem memory 72 could include one or more computer system readablemedia in the form of volatile memory, such as a random access memory(RAM) 76 and/or a cache memory 78. By way of example only, a storagesystem 80 may be provided for reading from and writing to anon-removable, non-volatile magnetic media device typically called a“hard drive”.

The system memory 72 may include at least one program product/utility 82having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules 84 that maybeconfigured to carry out the functions of embodiments of the invention.The program modules 84 may include, but is not limited to, an operatingsystem, one or more application programs, other program modules, andprogram data. Each of the operating systems, one or more applicationprograms, other program modules, and program data or some combinationthereof, may include an implementation of a networking environment. Theprogram modules 84 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein. Forexample, the program modules 84 may carry out the steps to facilitateidentification of a lost/stray animal, alert and/or notify the animal'sowner that the animal has been located and providing the globalpositioning system coordinates, provide a mechanism to communicationbetween the animal's owners and a third party who located the lost/strayanimal, as well as other functionality as will be described below.

The mobile device 15 may communicate with one or more external devices86 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 88, and/or anysimilar devices that enable the mobile device 15 to communicate with aserver 35 (FIG. 6). The mobile device 15 may communicate with one ormore networks such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide areanetwork (WAN), and/or a public network.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of thedisclosed invention may be embodied as a system, method or process, orcomputer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the disclosedinvention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,microcode, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardwareaspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,”“module,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the disclosed inventionmay take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or morecomputer readable media having computer readable program code embodiedthereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable media (for example,storage system 80) may be utilized. In the context of this disclosure, acomputer readable storage medium may be any tangible or non-transitorymedium that can contain, or store a program (for example, the programproduct 82) for use by or in connection with an instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device. A computer readable storage medium may be,for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, ordevice, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Referring to FIG. 3, in accordance with one embodiment, when a pet owner10 receives a PID assembly 30, the pet owner 10 may first activate thePID assembly 30. Activation may be done in different manners such asturning on a switch, connecting a power supply and similar methods. Thepet owner 10 may download/install the app on the mobile device 15 and/orcomputer having Bluetooth capabilities (hereinafter mobile device 15).The pet owner 10 may open the app on the mobile device 15. Aninformation page may be displayed on the mobile device 15. Theinformation page may allow the pet owner to enter information to beprogrammed into the PID assembly 30. The pet owner 10 may enterinformation 20 onto the information page via the mobile device 15. Asstated above, PID assembly 30 may contains a unique identifier that isnot reprogrammable by the pet owner 10. The pet owner 10 may enterinformation about the pet such as the pet's name, microchip number,photo, veterinarian, and/or additional information provided by the petowner 10. This information may be transmitted wirelessly 17 to the PIDassembly 30 that receives and stores the data internally. The pet owner10 may update this information on the PID assembly 30 when necessary.

Referring to FIG. 4, once the PID assembly 30 is programmed, the PIDassembly 30 may be attached to a collar of a pet 5. In the event the pet5 becomes lost and a concerned person 40 becomes involved in assistingthe pet 5 to be returned to the pet owner 10, the concerned person 45can obtain information about the pet 5 by using a mobile device 45configured to wirelessly receive transmitted Bluetooth beacon data fromthe PID assembly 30.

The system does not require the concerned person's mobile device 45 tobe pair with the PID assembly 30 to retrieve the information, nor doesthe concerned person 40 need to log into or have an account with anysystem to retrieve the information. The system does not require cellularservice or Wi-Fi access to collect and present the pet identificationtag information. Additionally since information is stored locally, nodata is required to be transmitted or received to or from a remoteserver.

In accordance with one embodiment, the PID assembly 30 may transmit thedata stored thereon to the mobile device 45 of the concerned person 40.The concerned person 40 can receive the output data 32 from the PIDassembly 30 in the form of Bluetooth Low Energy data transmissions. Thisoutput data 32 may be collected by and processed via a software app onthe mobile device 45.

Referring to FIG. 5, once the mobile device 45 of the concerned person40 collects and processes the data, the mobile device 45 may display thecontact information 22. The concerned person 40 may then use the contactinformation 22 accordingly, such as calling the owner or animal controlauthority with the contact information 22.

The advantage of utilizing the above embodiment, having a PID assembly30 that is easily identifiable with the Bluetooth beacon function, isthat anyone that locates a lost pet wearing the PID assembly 30 caneasily retrieve important information and contact information about thepet without placing themselves in a potentially hazardous situation byphysically touching or even getting close to the lost pet, whichincreases dramatically with certain pets that are fearful and/orphysically injured.

Referring to FIG. 6, in accordance with one embodiment, the pet owner 10may have to download the software application to the mobile device 15.The pet owner 10 may have to set-up an account in order to activate/usethe software application. Once activated, the pet owner 10 may add a newPID assembly 30. When a pet owner 10 receives a PID assembly 30, the petowner 10 may first activate the PID assembly 30. Activation may be donein different manners such as turning on a switch, connecting a powersupply and similar methods. Once activated, the pet owner 10 may receivethe Bluetooth beacon data transmission 17 containing the uniqueidentifier and serial number from the PID 30 using the mobile device 15which has Bluetooth capabilities and the software application. Using thesoftware application, the pet owner 10 may enter non-confidential animalinformation data 50 and confidential contact information data 55 usingthe mobile device 15. The non-confidential animal information data 50may include a name of the pet, description of the pet, a picture of thepet, or other non-confidential animal information.

The pet owner 10 may save and transmit the data via the mobile device 15through a computer network, Wi-Fi, or cellular access to the systemserver 35 which receives and stores the data internally. The systemserver 35 may verify that the unique identifier and serial number fromthe PID assembly 30 correspond. If not, the system server 35 may send anew serial number corresponding to the unique identifier of the PIDassembly 30.

Referring to FIG. 7, the PID assembly 30 may be attached to a collar ofa pet 5. In accordance with one embodiment, the PID assembly mayconsistently send the Bluetooth beacon data transmission 17 containingthe unique identifier and serial number from the PID 30. In the eventthe pet 5 becomes lost, a concerned person 40 using his or her mobiledevice 45 with the software application receives the Bluetooth beacondata transmission 17 containing the unique identifier and serial numberfrom the PID 30. In accordance with one embodiment, the concerned person40 may have to open the software application on the mobile device 45.The concerned person 40 may have to use an input/output (I/O) feature onthe mobile device 45 to receive the Bluetooth beacon data transmission17. The unique identification and serial number within the Bluetoothbeacon data transmission 17 may be processed by the mobile device 45using the software applications.

Referring to FIG. 8, once the mobile device 45 has processed the datafrom the PID 30, the software application may then include the time,date, device identifier, and Global Positioning System locationcoordinates of the mobile device 45 and send this data to the systemserver 35 through the communication network, where the system server 35then provides the owners non-confidential animal information data 50about the animal 5 back to the mobile device 45 through a communicationnetwork.

The concerned person 40 can then use the owner's non-confidential animalinformation data 50 to alert the pet owner 10 securely of the lost pet5. In accordance with one embodiment, the concerned person 40 may use anI/O feature on the mobile device 45 to enter and send a message to theowner of the lost pet 5. The message may include, but is not limited toa message to the pet owner 10, contact information of the concernedperson 40, or other information.

Referring to FIG. 9, in accordance with one embodiment, the concernedperson 40 may use the owner's non-confidential animal information data50, to alert the pet owner 10 securely and anonymously, and to provideoptional information 57A to the pet owner 10 using the softwareapplication's “Alert Owner” function 60. In accordance with oneembodiment, the optional information 57A may be a message, contactinformation of the concerned person 40 or other information theconcerned person 40 may deem relevant.

The concerned person 40 may use the mobile device 45 to send thecollected data and optional information 57A to the system server 35through a communication network. The system server 35 may relay theconcerned person's alert, optional information 57A, and collected datato the mobile device 15 of the pet owner 10 alerting the pet owner 10that the animal 5 has been located by the concerned party 40. The mobiledevice 15 of the pet owner 10 may displays the alert, the globalpositioning system coordinates, collected information, and any optionalinformation 57B. The concerned person 40 may also contact an animalcontrol authority with the animal's information 50. In accordance withone embodiment, communication through a communication network betweenthe pet owner 10 and the concerned person 40 may be through GlobalSystem for Mobile communications, Wi-Fi communications, computer networkcommunications, and/or additional IEEE standards.

Referring to FIG. 10, the pet owner 10 may determine that his/her pet 5is not where it belongs 70 and may be considered lost/stray. The petowner 10, may log into his/her account, using the mobile device 15 withthe software applications and selects an “Animal is Missing” option 65.The owner 10 using the mobile device 15 may send the lost animal alertto the system server 35 through a communication network, using a GlobalSystem for Mobile communications, Wi-Fi communications, computer networkcommunications, and/or additional IEEE standards. In the event that aconcerned person 40 comes in proximity to the lost pet 5 wearing the PID30, the mobile device 45 of the concerned person 40 may autonomouslyreceive and process the BLE beacon data information from the PID 30including the time, date, device identifier, and global positioningsystem coordinates information of the mobile device 45 and send the datainformation to the system server 35 through a communication network,using a Global System for Mobile communications, Wi-Fi communications,computer network communications, and/or additional IEEE standards. Thesystem server 35 may identify the pet 5 is marked as an alertlost/stray, and then send the alert data information using Global Systemfor Mobile communications, Wi-Fi communications, computer networkcommunications, and/or additional IEEE standards to the mobile device 45of the concerned person 40. Should the concerned person 40 choose tobecome involved with assisting the lost/stray pet 5, the process willcycle though the examples identified above. The system server 35 maymaintain that the pet 5 is considered an alert lost/stray until the petowner's 10 changes the status of the pet. Thus, if the pet owner 10finds the pet 5, the pet 5 is returned, or the like, the pet owner 10may change the status of the pet. In accordance with one embodiment, thepet owner 10, using the mobile device 15 may need to be in closeproximity to the pet 5 wearing the PID 30. This may allow the mobiledevice 15 to receive the BLE beacon data transmission 17 containing theunique identification and serial number from the PID 30. The mobiledevice 15 may autonomously sends the data to the system server 35through a communication network, using Global System for Mobilecommunications, Wi-Fi communications, computer network communications,and/or additional IEEE standards thereby changing the status of the pet5.

The foregoing description is illustrative of particular embodiments ofthe application, but is not meant to be a limitation upon the practicethereof. The following claims, including all equivalents thereof, areintended to define the scope of the application.

1. A method of identifying and assisting an animal comprising:transmitting a unique identification and serial number from anidentification tag coupled to the animal to a first portable electronicdevice; inputting owner information from the first portable electronicdevice; transmitting the owner information inputted from the firstportable electronic device to a server; storing the owner information onthe server; sending a signal of a lost animal alert to the server thatthe animal is lost; receiving the unique identification and serialnumber from an identification tag by a second portable electronicdevice; receiving the owner information on the second portableelectronic device; and removing the lost animal alert from the server.2. The method of claim 1, wherein inputting owner information from thefirst portable electronic device comprises transmitting the ownerinformation from the first portable electronic device to theidentification tag to program the identification tag with the ownerinformation.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the ownerinformation on the second portable electronic device comprisestransmitting the owner information from the identification tag to thesecond portable electronic device.
 4. (canceled)
 5. The method of claim1-4, comprising: processing the unique identification and serial numberfrom the identification tag by the second electronic device; identifyinga time and location when the second electronic device receives andprocesses the unique identification and serial number from theidentification tag; and transmitting the time and location when thesecond portable electronic device receives and processes the uniqueidentification and serial number from the identification tag to theserver by the second portable electronic device.
 6. The method of claim5, comprising transmitting the owner information from the server to thesecond portable electronic device.
 7. The method of claim 6, comprisingsending an alert to the first portable electronic device that the animalhas been located.
 8. The method of claim 6, comprising sending an alertto the first portable electronic device that the animal has beenlocated, wherein the alert shows a time and location of the animal. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a unique identification andserial number from an identification tag comprises transmitting aBluetooth beacon transmission signal containing the uniqueidentification and serial number from the identification tag to thefirst portable electronic device.
 10. The method of claim 4, whereinsending a signal of a lost animal alert comprises: sending the signal ofthe lost animal alert from the first portable electronic device to theserver that the animal is lost.
 11. The method of claim 1-4, comprising:sending a signal of a lost animal alert from the first portableelectronic device to the server that the animal is lost; receiving theunique identification and serial number from the identification tag bythe first portable electronic device when the animal is found;transmitting the unique identification and serial number to the serverby the first portable electronic device; and removing the lost animalalert from the server.
 12. A method of identifying and assisting ananimal comprising: transmitting e Bluetooth beacon transmission signalcontaining a unique identification and serial number from anidentification tag coupled to the animal to a first portable electronicdevice; inputting owner information from the first portable electronicdevice; transmitting the owner information inputted from the firstportable electronic device to a server; storing the owner information onthe server; sending a signal of a lost animal alert to the server thatthe animal is lost; receiving the unique identification and serialnumber from an identification tag by a second portable electronicdevice; receiving the owner information on the second portableelectronic device from the server; receiving the unique identificationand serial number from the identification tag by the first portableelectronic device when the animal is found; transmitting the uniqueidentification and serial number to the server by the first portableelectronic device; and removing the lost animal alert from the server.13. The method of claim 12, comprising: processing the uniqueidentification and serial number from the identification tag by thesecond electronic device; identifying a time and location when thesecond electronic device receives and processes the uniqueidentification and serial number from the identification tag; andtransmitting the time and location when the second portable electronicdevice receives and processes the unique identification and serialnumber from the identification tag to the server by the second portableelectronic device.
 14. The method of claim 13, comprising sending analert to the first portable electronic device that the animal has beenlocated.
 15. The method of claim 13, comprising sending an alert to thefirst portable electronic device that the animal has been located,wherein the alert shows a time and location of the animal.
 16. Themethod of claim 13, comprising sending a signal of a lost animal alertfrom the first portable electronic device to the server that the animalis lost.
 17. (canceled)